Internal-combustion engine.



. T. P. BROOKE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAYIO, 1910.

1 ,139,336. Patented May 11, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

T. P. BROOKE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I0. I910.

151 39,336, I Patented May 11, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

T. P. BROOKE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.- APPLICATION FILED MAY m. I910.

1,139,336. V Patented May11,1915.'

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3,

T. P. BROOKE.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, I9).

Patented May 11, 1915. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

itilllnlvll 01551:

III/II Engines, of which THOMAS P. BROOKE,- OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,ASSIGNOR,

BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, T0 LOUIS C. KUHNEBT, JR., OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1915.

Application filed May 10, 1910. Serial No. 560,445.

To all 1071 am it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS P. BROOKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chi cage, in the county of Illinois, have invented certainnew and use ful Improvements in Internal-Combustion the following is afull, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates more particularly to a valve gear for internalcombustion engines generally, but has'especial reference to the type ofsuch enginesin which a plurality, of cylinders revolve about a givencenter as distinguished from that type m which the cylinders arearranged radially about a rotating crank shaft.

The primary object of this invention is to so construct and locate thevalve gear or operating mechanism that the same in an engine of thistype may be completely housed, thus enabling the working parts. to bepacked in greaseor oil While protecting them from grit.

Another important object of the invention is to cause the elements ofthe valve gear which result in the actuation of the valves by theirmovement relative to one another to engage and pass one another at acomparatively slow relative rate of speed so that the shock of theimpact will be materially reduced.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means whereby thecentrifugal force acting upon the valves of the engine will besubstantially counterbalanced or overcome to operate the valves thedesired degree.

bodying this invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line22 of- Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a portion of therotating cam ring on a large scale hereinafter described. Fig. 4 is anenlargcd transverse section taken on the line Cook and State of H ofFig. 5. Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the irregular section line5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section on the line 66 ofFig. 1. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the outer end of one of the cylindersand the valveoperating levers; and Fig. 8 is a section thereof on theline 8-8 of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a sectional View of a piston valve.

The invention is exemplified in connection with a rotary enginecomprising two oppositely rotating series of cylinders 1 and 2, or, inother words, it is shown in connection with two engines of the rotarytype which rotate in opposite directions, but this particular feature ofthe example illustrated and the number of cylinders employed are notimportant, so far as the present invention is concerned in its broadestaspect. The two engines or series of cylinders 1 and 2 being identicalin construction, a description of one will suflice for both, it beingmerely necessary to explain that the crank case 3 of each engine isprovided with a gear wheel 4, and these two gear wheels which arearranged diametrically opposite one another on the same axis of rotationengage with a gear wheel 5 on driving shaft 6, from which the power ofthe engine is taken. Referring to the unimportant details of thisoperative connection between the two engines, as illustrated in Fig. 6,it will be seen that the crank cases 3 are rotatably mounted upon afixed axle 8 which is preferably hollow so as to form an intake passage9 for supplying both engines with fuel or fuel elements through a commonintake pipe 10. This axle 8 is offset at 11 to make room for the shaft6, which is mounted in a suitable bearing 12 on pedestal 13.

14 and 15 are concentric continuations of the axle 8 which are hollowlike the axle 8. The passage of the axle 8 opens into the crank case 3,but the passages of the hollow continuations 14: are closed off at thecrank case and open to the atmosphere so as to form central exhaustoutlets having a plurality of exhaust connections 16 which extend fromthe exhaust chamber 17 at the. outer ends of the cylinder to a manifoldconnection 18 surrounding the axle 14, and rotate freely thereon aroundone or more passages 19 which permit the gases to escape from theconnection 18'into the hollow axle 14 and thence to the atmosphere. Theapertures 20 which are formed also in the axle extension 14 if desired,are merely for the purpose of ventilation, and preventing as ar aspossible the heat of the exhaust extending to that portion of the axle14 on which the crank case is journaled.

The cranks of the engines, one of which is employed for each engine, oreach series of cylinders, are mounte" within .eachcrank case upon thespaced extremities of the axle members 8, 14. They are shown in thisexample as consisting of two cheek plates or crank arms 21, 22,connected together by a crank pin 23 on which is rotatably mounted acollar 24 to which all of the piston rods 25 are suitably connected, sothat the pistons 26 may reciprocate in their respective cylinders whilerevolving about the crank pin 23.

27 is the exhaust valve, one of which is of course employed at the outerend of each of the cylinders 1, 2, and which is adapted to openinwardly. It is mounted upon a stem 28 having a suitable guide 29 in theexhaust chamber 17, and is pivoted or otherwise operatively related atits outer end to one end of a rocking lever 30 j ournaled in standards31 and having its other end pivoted or operatively related to a rockinglever 32, which latter is pivoted on a pin 33 in brackets 34. One end ofthe lever 32 is pivoted to the outer end of a rod 35, whose inner endextends into the crank case 3, preferably through a suitable stufiingbox 36, and is operatively associated with a shoe or other suitablemeans revolving with the cylinders and adapted to engage with or to beengaged by a cam presently to be described for operating the rod 35 andcausing the valve 27 to open. This shoe maybe conveniently constitutedby a rocking member pivoted on a stud 37 carried by'the crank case 'orother suitable part moving with the cylinders, and

having an arm 38 provided with slot and pin connection with the rod 35,and a runner portion 39 having a rounded surface curving inwardly ortoward the center of rotation of the cylinders, it being understood thatone of these shoes is provided on the crank case for each of thecylinders when a plurality of cylinders is employed in connection withthis feature of the invention. As theecylinders revolve, these shoesdescribe a circle about the axle 14 and arranged concentrically withinthis circle is a ring40, which carries two cams 41, 42 arranged in thisexample of the invention approximately on diametrically opposite sidesof the ring 40, the position and relation of these cams to one anotherand to the shoes in any event being such that as the shoes revolve withthe cylinders and the ring 40, is caused to revolve in the samedirection of rotation, but

at a slightly increased rate of speed, one of the cams will overtake oneof the shoes of each cylinder every other time the shoe of that cylinderpasses a given point in the orbit of revolution, the engine being afourcycle engine, so that the exhaust valve of each cylinder will beopened on every fourth stroke of the piston of that cylinder. This beingthe principle of the invention, it will of course be understood that thedetails of construction and relative rates of speed of rotation of thevarious elements would be varied according to the cycle of the engineand to the number of cylinders employed. There being. five cylindersemployed in this example of a four-cycle engine, the cam ring 40 shouldbe geared to travel approximately one-fifth faster than the speed ofrotation of the shoes. The details whereby this is accomplished will nowbe described. v

The cam ring 40 is in the form of an internal gear having teeth 40 andis supported and rotated by two diametrically opposite pinions 43,44journaled on studs 45 which are mounted upon the outer wall of the crankcase 3, and consequently revolve with the crank case. The pinions 43, 44are each rigidly secured to a larger pinion .46 arranged concentricallytherewith and engaging diametrically "opposite sides of a fixed gear 47rigidly secured by a key 48'orother suitable means to axle 14. In thisexample of the invention the gears 40 and 47 bearthe ratio of 2 to 1,while the pinions 43, 44, being equal in diameter to one another, areonly one-half the diameter of their respective companion pinions 46.With this construction it will be seen that as the cylinders revolvecarrying the studs 45 with them, the

pinions 46 will be revolved bodily in the same direction, and alsorotated on the studs 45 in the same direction, causing a correspondingdirection of rotation of the pinions 43, 44 and the cam ring 40 40, butthe pinions 46 being smaller than the fixed gear 47 and the pinions 43,44 being still smaller than said gear and also considerably smaller thanthe internal gear 40, it follows that while the internal gear 40 iscarried by the crank case in its rotation and by reason of that fact,rotates as fast as the crank case, the additional rotation imparted toit by the train'of gears just described for each revolution of thecylinders is only a small fraction of a complete rotation, that fracofthe rotation as before described, but whatever the gear. ratio be, itshould in all instances be' such that one of the cams will engage theshoe of each cylinder every other time that shoe passes a given point,if the engine be a four-cycle engine, or every third time it passes thatpoint if it be a six-cycle engine, or every time it passes such point ifit be a two-cycle engine. It will also be understood that the gear ratiois such as results in the cam remaining in engagement with the shoe asufiicientlength of time to permit the waste gases to fully exhaust.This is ef- 'tion in the example shown being one-fifth fected by thecomparatively slow relative rate of travel of the cam and shoe and mayalso be regulated to suit the peculiarities of the engines by varyingthe proportions of the engaging faces of the shoe and cam, whereby theymay be 'made'to remain in contact a longer or shorter length of time.

As the cam engages the shoe, or vice versa, it is of course understoodthat the inward pull imparted to the rod 35 throws the contiguous endsof the levers 30, 32 out-. wardly and forces the valve stem 28 inwardlyto open the valve. \Vhen this invention is applied to an engine of therotary type described, the centrifugal force acting upon th-e valve 27and its connected parts is considerable, and at high speeds wouldsubject the shoes 39 and cams 11, 42' to undue strain, but with thecontiguous ends of the levers 30, 32, which constitute a compound lever,arranged between the fulcrum of the lever 30 and the power, it will beseen that the same centrifugal force which tends to hold the valve toits seat by acting directly against the valve will tend to throw thecontiguous ends of the levers 30, 32 outwardly and thereby resist thisforce a degree proportionate tothe speed of rotation, and by a properproportioning of the weight of the arms of the levers 30, 32, the valveand other connected parts, the force of the centrifugal action againstthe valve may be gaged to a nicety and be made just sufficient forholding the valve to its seat.

There are various methods common in the art for admitting the charge tothe explosion space of the cylinder from the crank case of the engine,satisfactory method being shown by Fig. 9, in which it will be seen thatthe piston 26 is hollow with a valve passage a9 and a valve 50 forcontrolling the passage of gas between the gas chamber formed by thecrank case of the engine and the explosion chamber formed between theouter end of the cylinder and the piston. A plurality of projecting lugs51 are provided on the flat end of the piston adjacent the valve passage49 to limit the movement of the valve. The valve is provided with adepending valve stem 52, the lower end of which is slotted to receivethe extremities of twolevers 53 which are pivoted respectively at 54 toa depending portion 55 of the piston. ()n the outer end of each of saidlevers is a ball or weight 56, which, by reason of the relativearrangement of the several parts, is adapted to resist the movement ofthe valve under the action of its own weight. These balls or weights aremade of such size as to slightly over-balance the weight of the valve50, but of suitable weight to permit the entrance of the gas the pistonexcept during into the explosion chamber during the latter part of theinward radial movement of the power stroke.-

-gears especially,

Each of the valves 50 is therefore actuated by centrifugal force due tothe revolving moment about the shaft.

For convenience of reference, the five shoes have been designated A, B,C, D and E respectively. With the parts in the position shown in Fig. &of the drawing, the

shoe A is being actuated to open the valve of the cylinder controlledthereby by the enmgement of the cam 41. This is the positionapproximately speaking, where each cylinder will exhaust when its shoearrives at that point, but it will be observed that the next shoe inline, which is the shoe D,

assuming that the rotation is toward the left, is not engaged when itarrives at the position now occupied by the shoe A, but by the time thenext shoe, 6. e., shoe B, arrives at this position, it will have beenovertaken by the cam 12 and will be actuated thereby. The shoe E, likethe shoe D, will pass the present position of the shoe A withoutactuation, but the next shoe C when it arrives at this position, willhave been overtaken by the cam 41 and actuated. In other words, theshoes are actuated in the order in which they are lettered.

In order that all of the parts of the valve actuating mehanism that aresubjected to excessive friction and wear, including the may be entirelyinclosed, such parts are situated at the outer sides of the crank cases3 instead of between them, as heretofore, and the outer faces of thecrank cases are provided with caps or casings inclosing these parts,such caps or casings being constituted by an annular flange or rim 3formed on the crank case, and a cap plate 3 surrounding the axle 14 inclose relation thereto and being secured in place in any suitable way,as by cap screws 3, thus providing a dust proof and oil tight inclosure.

What I claim is: p

1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinderhaving a single port, a valve controlling said port, means for actuatingsaid valve embodying two elements traveling bodily in the samedirection, one of saidelements being connected to the valve, means formoving the elements at different rotative speeds to engage one with theother whereby the element connected to the valve is periodicallyovertaken and moved to actuate the valve.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a plurality ofcylinders each having a single port, valves for controlling said ports,means for actuating said valves embodying elements traveling in a circleand connected with said valves respectively, and another elementtraveling in the same direction as the first said elements but at adifferent rate of speed, and adapted to overtake and to come intoengagement with. the 13 g greases first said elements successively formoving them to actuate thevalves,

3. In an internal combustion en inc, the combination of a plurality ofcylin ers each having a single ort and revolving about a given center,va ves for controlling said ports, valve actuating elements operativelyrelated to said valves respectively revolving with the cylinders aboutsaid center and a second element also revolving with said cylindersabout said center in the same direction but at a higher rate of speedand adapted to en age with the first said elements successive y formoving them to actuate the valves.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a plurality ofcylinders revolving about a given center and each having a single port,valves for controlling said ports, valve actuating elements operativelyconnected with said valves respectively and revolving about said centerwith the cylinders at the'same rate of speed as said cylinders, a camrevoluble' about said center.

with said elements and gearing operatively connecting said cam with thesaid cylinders for driving the cam at a higher rate of speed it tooversaid valves.

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a plurality ofcylinders revolving about a given center, and each provided with asingle port, valves for controlling said ports, valve actuating elementsdisposed in the same plane revolving with said cylinders about saidcenter at the same rate of speed as the cylinders, a cam revoluble aboutsaid center with said elements and adapted to engage the same, andgearing connecting said cam with the cylinders for imparting to the cama rotative speed of travel greater than the speed of travel of saidelements.

6. In an internal combustion'engine, the combination of a plurality ofradially arranged cylinders each having a single port, valves forcontrolling said ports, a 'fixed axle about which said cylindersrevolve, valve actuating elements for said valves respectively revolvingwith said cylinders about said axle, a ring concentric with said axlehaving external cam surfaces adapted to engage said valve controllingelements, said ring being provided with internal gear teeth, a fixedgear on aid axle, a pinion engaging said fixed gear and a secondpinions'ecured to said first pinion andengaging said internal gear, saidpinions being mounted to revolvebodily with said cylinders in the samedirection of rotation.

7. In an internal combustion engine the combination of a plurality ofcylinders re volving about a given center and each cylinder having anexhaust port in the end, valves for controlling said ports, said valvesbeing mounted to be acted upon by the centrifugal force resulting fromthe rotation of said cylinders, and valve actuating elements for movingsaid valves with relation to their seats embodying a compound lever forbalancing each of said valves, one lever of each of said compound leversbeing op eratively related to one of the valves and the joint betweenthe levers of each of said compound levers being arranged to beinfluenced by the centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of thecylinders for forcing said joint outwardly with respect to the center ofrotation.

8. In an internal combustion engine the combination of a plurality ofrevolving cylinders each having an exhaust port, a valve for controllingeach of said ports mounted to be forced to their seats by thecentrifugal force resulting from the rotation of the cylinders, a leverhaving one end operatively related to the valve for opening the same, apivot for said lever, a second lever pivoted to the first said lever, apivot for the second said lover, a rod connected to the second saidlever for rocking the same, the pivotal connection between the saidlevers being located between the pivots of the said levers, and meansforactuating said rod as the cylinders revolve.

9. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality ofradially arranged cylinders each having an exhaust port in the endthereof, of valves for controlling said ports, a fixed axle about whichsaid cylinders revolve, valve actuating elements for said valvesrevolving with said cylinders, a ring concentric with said axle andspaced therefrom, having cam surfaces on its outer edge and internalgear teeth, a fixed gear 'on said axle, a pinion engaging said fixedgear and a second pinion secured, to the first pinion and engaging saidinternal gear, said inions being mounted to revolve bodily with thecylinders producing a differential rotation of the said ring and valveactuating elements and effecting by the movement of said ring theactuation of the said valve actuating elements for opening the exhaustvalves in the cylinders at predetermined times.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificatiomin thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 7th day of May A. D.1910.

THOMAS P. BROOKE.

Witnesses:

J. H. JocrrUM, Jr., M. W, CANTWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for this cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, D. 0. k

